chemical weapons

Aleppo, once Syria’s most populated city, now holds 300,000 people, including approximately 100,000 children. Director Saad Houry asked parties involved in the Syrian war to protect civilians and children, reiterating previous requests that have been ignored. Continue reading →

In our news wrap Wednesday, U.S. special forces captured the Islamic State group’s chemical weapons chief in a raid in northern Iraq last month, while recent follow-up airstrikes destroyed IS chemical facilities. Also, U.S. and Somali forces are reported to have killed 10 Al-Shabaab militants in a joint overnight raid west of Mogadishu. Continue reading →

In our news wrap Friday, the family of American hostage Kayla Mueller says she was repeatedly raped by Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi before her death, according to U.S. intelligence. Also, Kurdish officials say they’re investigating chemical weapons attacks by Islamic State forces. Continue reading →

During the Iraq war, American soldiers were unknowingly exposed to old chemical weapons long abandoned by Saddam Hussein’s regime. The story of the troops who were injured trying dismantle the contaminated weapons has been kept secret until now. Judy Woodruff learns more from C.J. Chivers of The New York Times about his investigation. Continue reading →

In our news wrap Monday, a nationwide FBI operation has recovered 168 victims of child sex trafficking. The children are Americans and many had never been reported missing, said FBI director James Comey. Also, Syria handed over the last of its declared chemical weapons. The stockpile reportedly included mustard gas and raw ingredients for sarin nerve gas. Continue reading →

The justices threw out the conviction of Carol Anne Bond of Lansdale, Pa., who was prosecuted under a 1999 law based on the chemical weapons treaty. Bond served a six-year prison term after being convicted of using toxic chemicals that caused a thumb burn on a friend who had become her husband’s lover.

The intent of the chemical weapons treaty was to prevent a repeat of the use of mustard gas in World War I or toxic weapons in the Iraq-Iran war in the early 1980s, not “an amateur attempt by a jilted wife to injure her husband’s lover,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the court. Continue reading →

Video footage purporting to show a chlorine gas attack in the Syrian village of Kfar Zeita on Thursday was released by Syrian opposition activists. It would be evidence of a new chemical weapons campaign in the country’s civil war. Activists say the small village north of Damascus has been hit by a two-month-long aerial chemical assault in which chlorine canisters have been dropped from helicopters. Continue reading →

France’s foreign minister on Tuesday accused the Syrian government of President Bashar Assad of attacking its people with chemical weapons at least 14 times since last October, including as recently as a few weeks ago. Continue reading →